Irish man hit and killed by high-speed train in Austria

The family of an Irish teacher killed by a high speed train while on skiing holiday in Austria is to make arrangements to bring his remains home.

Paul Kilgarriff (35), originally from Ballygar, Co Galway, was killed when he stepped onto train tracks near his accommodation in the resort of Zell am See in Salzburg.

It is understood that Mr Kilgarriff was on holiday with a number of friends but Austrian police say he appeared to be on his own when struck by the train at around 3am on Monday morning.

Police say that while the driver attempted to stop there was nothing he could do due to the speed at which the train was travelling.

“He was a holiday guest and he was on the way to his hotel and walked onto the train tracks,” a spokesman told The Irish Times.

“At this moment came a rapid train and the driver couldn’t stop. We have so many people walking on tracks and crossing tracks and you have no chance as a train driver to stop.”

Mr Kilgarriff, a teacher at the Educated Together school in Adamstown, Dublin, was believed to have been at the beginning of his holiday when the tragedy occurred.